Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Charge Number 5

In her will, Mrs. White left certain cash gifts to her children and a per cent on the royalties from her books. This seems “strange in view of some things which she had written. In a testimony on ‘Wills and Legacies,’ written in 1880, she said: ‘Some are so situated that wills must be made. But in doing this, care should be taken not to give to sons and daughters means which should flow into the treasury of God.’ Tes. Vol. 4, p. 484. In the same chapter she said: ‘His [God’s] claims should have your first consideration.’ p. 482.” EGWC 528.1

There is nothing in what Mrs. White has written concerning wills that condemns giving some portion of an estate to the children. On the very page from which the critic quotes, Mrs. White declares: “In disposing of your property by will to your relatives, be sure that you do not forget God’s cause.”—Testimonies for the Church 4:482. How often ministers say to their churches: “Care should be taken not to spend upon ourselves and our family money that should flow into the treasury of God.” Do we mean that church members should not spend a dollar upon themselves or their children, and that every dollar of their income ought to go to the Lord? Not at all. Mrs. White’s counsel on the matter of wills is simply an exemplification of the divine principle that we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness: “His [God’s] claims should have your first consideration.” EGWC 528.2

Her will reveals that ten per cent of the income from her properties ^* was to go to one son, ten per cent to another (and after the death of this son and his wife their ten per cent was to go to the denomination), and five per cent of the income was to be set aside each year for an educational fund for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren and other worthy persons. ^† That would total at the outset twenty-five per cent, or only one fourth of the income. Seventy-five per cent—later to rise to eighty-five per cent—was to go to the church. If every individual who made out a will designated that this percentage of the anticipated income to his estate should go to the church, we think that the church would be in a marvelously well-fortified financial position, and the ministry at large would be ready to say that God’s claims had had “first consideration” in the minds of the testators. EGWC 528.3

It is true that Mrs. White made provision for certain bequests at the time of the probating of her will. The grand total of these was only $6,006.75, and was constituted of certain cash gifts and her furniture and personal belongings. EGWC 529.1